Bloomberg to receive first ‘Jewish Nobel’

NEW YORK — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be the first recipient of the $1-million Genesis Prize, which is being called the “Jewish Nobel Prize.”

The award was announced Monday.

The Genesis Prize Foundation was established in 2012 by the Genesis Philanthropy Group, a consortium of mega-wealthy philanthropist-businessmen from the former Soviet Union including Mikhail M. Fridman, Pyotr Aven and German Khan; the office of the Prime Minister of Israel, and the Jewish Agency for Israel.

The prize, which will be given out annually, is awarded to an accomplished, internationally renowned professional from anywhere in the world who is a role model in his or her community and who can inspire the younger generation of Jews worldwide, according to the foundation’s website.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will present the prize to Bloomberg at a ceremony in Jerusalem in May.

Bloomberg was chosen from more than 200 nominees worldwide because of his “track record of outstanding public service and his role as one of the world’s greatest philanthropists,” according to the prize committee.

“Many years ago, my parents instilled in me Jewish values and ethics that I have carried with me throughout my life, and which have guided every aspect of my work in business, government, and philanthropy,” Bloomberg said in a statement, in which he said he was honoured to receive the prize.

The prize committee, chaired by Israeli Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, includes Elie Wiesel, a Nobel laureate and professor at Boston University; Meir Shamgar, justice and president emeritus of the Supreme Court of Israel, and Tova Strasberg-Cohen, retired justice of the Supreme Court of